Freedom Pass – The Movie!

The long awaited Freedom Pass film is now live on the freedom pass website: www.freedompass.org (the infamous the bus stop dance is at 2:08). London Councils made the film to clear up confusion between the Mayor’s 60+ pass and the Freedom Pass and also to remind people that boroughs run and pay for the scheme. The bus stop dance, choreographed especially for this film, illustrates the freedom that a Freedom Pass can provide. All but one of the dancers are Freedom Pass holders.

We are trying to get as many hits on this as possible so please do have a look and forward on to your contacts. We hope you like it! If you do, please put it on your website to help explain about the freedom pass scheme and share a link on your Facebook or Twitter accounts and use our hashtag #FreedomPassTheMovie.

Mid Term Review – Phase 5

London Councils is now in the final phase of the Mid Term Review (MTR) of Older Person Freedom Pass holders. In total we have sent out more than 105,000 letters to 73,000 pass holders (this includes letters to pass holders for whom London Councils has been provided a forwarding address by QAS Experian)

London Councils has also hotlisted (cancelled) 24,000 deceased pass holders across all the boroughs. There has been a low error rate of 2%. QAS Experian indicated that this is lower than the expected rate of 5%.

There are currently 3500 responses outstanding to process but we have put on extra resources and recruited temporary staff to help with the workload. There are also several thousand undelivered letters to process which have been returned by Royal Mail. London Councils aims to process all letters and emails in response to the MTR by the end of June. Boroughs will be consulted individually towards the end of June about pass holders who have not responded to the MTR and how they would like to process these records for example to verify residency against other records held by the home borough.

Charging for replacement passes

Charging for replacement passes has been going well with little complaint. London Councils will be reporting to TEC in summer but so far there has not been much negative feedback.

We are replacing on average 4000-5000 cards every month.

JourneyCall currently take credit and debit card payments over the phone but pass holders can also pay by cheque, postal order and cash.

Boroughs should refer any replacement pass requests to JourneyCall as most methods of payment can be processed at the call centre.

The Mayors 60+ London Oyster card

This scheme provides Freedom Pass level travel concession in London for those aged 60 or over but who have not yet reached the nationally set age for eligibility. London Councils and Transport for London (TfL) have signed an Information Sharing Protocol so that data can be shared to help prevent fraud and enable a smooth transition for 60+ card holders to Freedom Pass when they reach the eligible age.

London Councils’ contractor ESP has recently been concentrating on implementing the 60+ scheme into the Freedom Pass CMS (database). All resources have been focused on getting this process in place for those who reached the age of eligibility on 6 May (1,647 pass holder records) and 6 July 2013,(1,657 pass holder records) transferring from the 60+ scheme to the Freedom Pass scheme.

There were some expected technical issues which caused some delays in despatching Freedom Passes to those who had been transferred from the 60+ scheme. However we are pleased to say that this has since been resolved by ESP. There may be some 60+ holders who opted out of sharing their data with ESP and London Councils at the time of applying for the 60+ pass. Figures suggest that 70% of 60+ applicants agree to share their data with London Councils. JourneyCall has been provided with a list of those who did not opt out so if a 60+ pass holder is not sure if they opted in or out of the data sharing they should be advised to contact the helpline number (0845 275 7054).

If a 60+ pass holder opted out of sharing their data with London Councils they would need to reapply through the Post Office. For those who agreed, ESP will send a letter 6 weeks prior to their 60+ pass expiring. The applicant is then asked to confirm their identity and that their principal residence is in London. The forms are then returned to ESP by the applicant and ESP process the forms and despatch the cards at the time the person becomes eligible.

The data sharing system set up between London Councils and TfL to share information on Disabled Freedom Pass holders is working effectively. London Councils expect a more seamless transition and issuing of cards for the next batch of newly eligible pass holders come 6 July 2013.

2015 Freedom Pass Bulk Reissue

In 2015 around 1 million cards will expire. London councils have started thinking through the process and have had initial discussions with stakeholders and contractors regarding different approaches to follow for the bulk 2015 reissue.

London Councils were recently audited on the Freedom Pass scheme. The auditors were happy with how the scheme was managed and in particular the controls implemented by the Post Office to check the identity and residency of applicants. This level of control will have to be considered when taking into account if London Councils introduce online applications, particularly in the lead up to the 2015 re-issue. 2018 Expiry Cards

All new and replaced Older Freedom Passes will now carry the 2018 expiry date.

Freedom Pass BOLG meeting dates.

The following meetings will take place on a Tuesday from 2 -4 pm in the Conference suite at London Councils.

17 September 16 December